


Winding Down For Years

by MiniNephthys



Category: Yggdra Union
Genre: Community: 64damn_prompts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-28
Updated: 2011-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-21 20:58:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/229782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In dreams, Nessiah comes to Gulcasa to worry over him.  December 2010.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winding Down For Years

Nessiah awoke shortly after Yggdra unified the continent. It was a grand feat, to be sure, but Nessiah doubted that it would last very many generations. Anyway, the Gran Centurio had developed the power he needed, if only he could find a way to get it back...

Asking did not occur to him.

For the next few years he kept track of things without making his presence known. Yggdra's reconstruction efforts. The affairs of the heads of the Black and White Rose Houses. And Gulcasa.

Gulcasa, who now lived a normal life among the citizenry, not trusted by Yggdra to run his former country. He lived in a small house with Emilia, Aegina, and Luciana, and kept in contact with the former high-ranking Imperial Army. His family, Nessiah had realized long ago, in the days of Gram Blaze.

Gradually, Gulcasa lost contact with Baldus, Eudy, and Zilva. Murmurs around the town reported that he was looking more... empty. It was a slow change, so slow that few around him seemed to notice it, and Nessiah himself almost missed it.

Perhaps... he couldn't risk making an appearance, but if he could get close enough...

The night hid Nessiah as he pressed one hand against the wall of Gulcasa's home. Softly, so as not to wake any of the inhabitants, he began to chant the spell.

Gulcasa was dreaming of the battle of Karona. Through the chaos, Nessiah's unit could still clearly be seen. Nessiah winced as he saw himself skewered on a knight's lance. Some things were just unpleasant.

"How many nights have you dreamt of this, Gulcasa?" Nessiah asked. The warriors and bodies faded away, leaving only Gulcasa and Nessiah out on the field.

Gulcasa climbed off his mount and it, too, disappeared. "I've lost count over the years. Does it matter?"

"It does to your mental state." Nessiah let out a sigh. "How very like you to fixate on something in the past and let it sway your decisions... the last time this happened, you pushed away your friends as well, but you became stronger then. You seem the same now."

"This isn't like with her. With you, I was at the peak of my abilities, and I still couldn't save you. I couldn't even beat the princess when she came calling. There's... nothing I can do."

"Don't say that. Even with your defeats, you're still one of the strongest men alive on the continent. You have the power to change the lives of the people you care about." Nessiah came a little closer. "But convincing you of this seems nearly impossible, so I'll return to my original plan. Gulcasa, you're dreaming lucidly and you have me here. If there's anything you want to do or say, I promise to bear it."

"Something I want to say...? Besides 'forgive me'?" asked Gulcasa, coming close enough that Nessiah could reach out and touch him.

"Idiot." Nessiah smacked him lightly on the arm. "There's nothing to forgive. I made a miscalculation, I suffered the consequences. You're not required to be protecting everyone you love all the time; that would be foolish to expec-"

Gulcasa crossed the remaining distance between them and bent his head to kiss him deeply, gripping his sides with the gentleness of someone who knew their own strength. Heatedly, like everything Gulcasa ever did. Nessiah felt himself returning the kiss without thinking about it.

After a few seconds, Gulcasa pulled away enough to comment, "You said anything."

"I can think of far more unpleasant things you could have done in this dream." Nessiah smiled, but it soon faded. "If a specter of your mind may ask a favor..." When Gulcasa looked at him expectantly, he said, "Please take care of yourself. Contact your family formerly in the Imperial Army. Find something fulfilling to do. Anything but waste away." As his face burned up, he hugged Gulcasa tightly. "Please..."

Gulcasa stroked his hair. "Which one of us is the desperate one?"

"Gulcasa." Nessiah swallowed over the lump in his throat. "Say you will."

"I'm not promising anything in a dream-"

" _Say you will._ "

"Alright, alright, fine." Gulcasa sighed.

"The dream needs to end now," Nessiah murmured. "I'll be back."


End file.
